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PIONEERS AND PATRIOTISM 



Address of Ernest F. Acheson at the Farmers^ Picnic, Stout^s 

Grove, East Finley Township, Washington County, 

Pennsylvania, August J 9, J 909. 

[Compliments of The Washington, Pa., Daily Observer.] 



It is 140 years since this beautiful 
section of country in which we live 
was opened for settlement. The fame 
of the rich lands in "the horse shoe," 
as the region between the Mononga- 
hela and the Ohio rivers was called in 
those early days, spread abroad 
through all the eastern counties of 
Pennsylvania and of New Jersey, Del- 
aware, Maryland and Virginia. The 
new comers from across the sea, the 
sons of old Ulster in the north of Ire- 
land and those who had flown from op- 
pression and religious persecution in 
Scotland and England, were told of 
the wonderful fertility of the country 
we now inhabit. A stream of emigra- 
tion passed over the Alleghany moun- 
tains and the ax of the hardy pioneer 
began to clear these hills and valleys 
of tne dense forest which covered 
them. 

Within six years after these lands 
could be patented and a year before 
Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal 
Declaration of Independence came 
Abraham Enlow and settled within the 
limits of what is now East Finley 
township. He built a block house, fa- 
mous throughout this region as a ref- 
uge in time of peril from Indians. He 
was soon followed by the Roneys, who 
likewise erected a block house or fort, 
near which occurred the tragic death 
of eight members of the Mcintosh 
family, murdered by the Indians, toma- 
hawked and scalped. Only one daugh- 
ter who had been sent to a distant pas- 
ture with a horse escaped to tell the 
terrible story at Roney's block house. 



other places of refuge in those peril- 
ous times were Beeman's blocK house 
and Campbell's block house in which 
the sturdy pioneers took refuge when 
necessary from the savages. Their 
work in the fields had to be carried on 
while the rifle was kept near at hand 
and sentinels were posted to give 
warning of danger. Such was the 
condition in this region for 20 years 
after the first settlers came. For two 
decades the Ohio river was an insuper- 
able barrier to the onward march of 
civilization. Not until after the bat- 
tle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and 
Wayne's treaty with the Indians of 
the Northwest Territory the year fol- 
lowing, were the inhabitants of this 
region free from fear of Indian incur- 
sions. 

In the meantime many sturdy sons 
of old Scotland, of Ulster, of the Quak- 
ers of England and the Scotch-Irish 
from the seaboard settlements had 
made homes here. Among these were 
the Montgomerys, the Elliotts, peaceful 
Quakers, who came as early as 1780; 
the Cracrafts. Scotch-Irish, in 1781; the 
five Sprowls brothers, before 1782 — en- 
terprising Englishmen, one of whom, 
Hugh Sprowls, was with Colonel Craw- 
ford, the friend of Washington, in the 
ill-fated expedition against Sandusky 
where Crawford was burned at the 
stake; Henry Holmes, an Irishman, in 
1780, and James Beeham perhaps be- 
fore that date; Alexander Burns, a 
Scotchman, probably a kinsman of the 
immortal bard, who wrote "A man's a 
man for a' that," in 1780; the Byers 



<^N^^s<v>A 



lamily, Irish, in 178G; the Sutherlands 
and the Fraziers, both Scotch, the 
same year; and the Hendersons a year 
later. Many other families which 
have left their impress upon this re- 
gion were among those early settlers. 
Familiar names found in the records 
are the Carrolls, two of whom suffer- 
ed from Indian ferocity; Hill, Wolf, 
Post, McCleary, Martin, Rockafellow, 
Vansyock, England. Knox, Rose, 'Po- 
land, Porter, Davidson, Davis, McCoy, 
Isaac Lucas, a Revolutionary soldier 
and aidecamp to General Washington, 
William Gunn, from old Aberdeen, in 
Scotland, and Alexander Gunn to 
whom he was not related, the Hunters, 
Stouts and Shorts and others 
whose names are familiar to us all. 

In 1788, seven years before the In- 
dian troubles were settled, Finley 
township was erected. It embraced all 
of what is now East and West Finley 
townships and Rich Hill township. 
Greene county. It was :]U miles from 
north to south, a veritable principality 
in extent and resources. Robert Mor- 
ris, a patriot of the Revolution, who 
financed the colonies in that heroic 
struggle for freedom, owned ;J0,000 
acres in old Finley township. It was 
one of the disastrous land speculations 
which brought him to poverty and the 
debtors prison in his old age. This 
tract was sold, divided into 75 farms 
of 400 acres each, most of which were 
purchased by Scotchmen, so that this 
neighborhood came to be known as 
"the Scotch settlement." 

These pioneers, our forefathers, 
were embued with a love of liberty. 
They willingly endured hardships that 
their children might worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of their own 
consciences and enjoy the blessings of 
freedom. Many of them left their 
farms before they were cleared to 
fight the battles of the Revolution. 
They were with Washington at Valley 
Forge and at Yorktown. Again when 
Detroit was surrendered a wave of 
patriotism swept over this region and 
Washington county sent more soldiers 
to the war of '12 than any county 
in the Union. Among them were many 
patriotic sons of old Finley. So when 
the tocsin of war again sounded for 
the dreadful civil conflict of 'Gl, the 
boys who had breathed the free air of 



these noble hills, were among those 
to promptly respond. On many a 
bloody battle field they "gave the last 
full measure of devotion" for the 
country which their forefathers sub- 
dued the wilderness to create. 

The opportunity comes to few men 
to serve their country as did the pion- 
eers or the soldiers of our various 
wars. It is occasionally given to the 
members of one generation to fight for 
their country by shouldering a musket 
and carrying a knapsack. But it is 
given to every citizen to defend the 
noble heritage which came to us 
through the sufferings and privations 
of the pioneers and the service in war- 
like camps of the soldiers who wore 
the blue. Every man has a more effec- 
tive weapon with which to defend his 
country than the old flintlock rifle or 
even the deadly long range Mauser. 
This is the ballot. 

If we are worthy of the splendid 
heritage which God has given us 
through the privations and toils of our 
brave forebears we will so use the 
priceless privilege of the elective fran- 
chise as to make this a better coun- 
try for our children and our children's 
children. We must above everything 
else stand for the strict enforcement 
of the laws of the land. Men cannot 
choose what laws they will obey. The 
good citizen obeys all laws. He fol- 
lows the divine injunction, "Render 
unto Ceasar the things that are Cea- 
sar's." We must sternly rebuke and 
punish crimes against the ballot. 
These are all too common. Men do 
not appreciate the sanctity of the bal- 
lot box and when partisan feeling is 
aroused or a factional fight is in prog- 
ress will either buy votes or induce 
those who are not entitled to do so to 
vote; and other men are willing to 
condone fraud if it is done by or in be- 
half of the party or faction with which 
they are affiliated. These vile prac- 
tices have gone so far in some of the 
counties of this state that Judge 
Brumni, of Schuylkill, has proposed to 
brand the forehead of any one con- 
victed of polling an illegal vote or of 
buying or selling a vote, with the let- 
ter "T," for traitor. While such a 
l)unishment cannot be indicted under 
our constitution, we can enact strin- 
gent laws for the protection of the bal- 



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lot and we can as individuals help to 
make a public sentiment which will 
render odious the boodler and ballot 
box stuffer. The red hot branding iron 
of righteous indignation should be felt 
by the conscienceless violator of our 
election laws and the finger of public 
scorn should point to him as a traitor 
who possesses all the despicable qual- 
ities of Judas Iscariot, Benedict Ar- 
nold and John Wilkes Booth. 

The ballot can be used to conquer 
the insidious foes who seek by legis- 
lative enactment to secure special 
privilege. We must have further regu- 
lation and control of the gigantic cor- 
porations engaged in interstate com- 
merce. The Roosevelt policies must 
be carried to their logical conclusion. 
I was never an admirer of the infi- 
del, Robert G. Ingersoll. but in his last 
years he said one thing with which I 
fully agree and that was that he had 
always been a believer in the tariff 
and favored the protection of all in- 
fant industries but that when these in- 
fant industries grew to be giants who 
wore seven league boots and could 
kick the stuffing out of you he was no 
longer interested in their protection. 
The ballot can protect us from the ex- 
actions of the vast aggregations of 
capital which have come to be known 
as trusts. The dweller on these hills 
can get a clear view of the National 
problems which this generation must 
face. He is likely to decide that 
hereafter our system of taxation must 
be modeled after those progressive Eu- 
ropean nations, England and Germany, 
and the proper burden placed upon the 
multi-millionaires who have been en- 
abled to pile up enormous fortunes 
under the protection of our laws. The 
income tax and the inheritance tax 
can come none too soon to relieve the 
poor and those in moderate circum- 
stance, as more than 95 per cent of 
our people are, of the rapidly increas- 
ing burdens of taxation which the 
widely expanding fields of public en- 
deavor require and which modern con- 
ditions of civilization demand. 

With the ballot we can push forward 
those movements which vitally affect 
the local community. Paramount 
among these are the efforts for better 
roads and better schools. The public 



schools have been called the citadel of 
our liberties. While we have accom- 
plishel much for the cause of public 
education in Pennsylvania our schools 
are far behind those of New England 
and many of the Western states. 
There, schools are centralized and 
graded so that better work can be 
done. A township like East Finley 
should have a single school building, 
centrally located, of handsome archi- 
tectural design, with modern conven- 
iences and as well equipped as any 
city school in the land. To and fi'om 
this central school all pupils should 
be hauled in comfortable conveyances 
at the public expense. Do you say 
the township can not afford it? I say 
it can. The argument of expense was 
used asrainst the public school law of 
lSo4 and only the burning eloquence of 
the "Old Commoner", Thaddeus Ste- 
vens, saved it in the lower house. Wash- 
ington county had a glorious part in 
the enactment of that first law for 
free public schools. Under the leader- 
ship of John L. Gow, a native of New 
England, who had made his home in 
this county, a man in whom progres- 
sive ideas concerning public educa- 
tion had been instilled, a strong senti- 
men for the important measure was 
created here. It so happened that 
Col. Thomas Ringland, of Morris town- 
ship, was speaker of the senate, and 
William Patterson, of Crosscreek 
township, speaker of the house. Bota 
were ardent advocates of free 
schools, used their influence lor the 
bill and signed it when passed. At 
that time my father was the law part- 
ner of Isaac Leet, a distinguished 
member of the bar. Mr. Leet was 
elected to the state senate in 1834. 
Among my father's papers I found a 
petition sent to Mr. Leet in 18c!5, sign- 
ed by 489 taxpayers of Washington 
county praying for the repeal of the 
common school law. They asked for 
this on the ground of the great ex- 
pense of the system which it was al- 
leged the people could not bear. In 
the 74 years which have passed since, 
a wonderful expansion of the public 
school system has taken place. Those 
who founded it never dreamed of its 
growth to present proportions. The 
school expenditures of these days 
would have shocked those petitioners 



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for repeal could they have forseen 
what was coming. And yet would any 
person in this audience, if I were to 
produce that old petition, be proud of 
the fact that his father or grandfather 
had put his name upon it? You may 
be just as certain that no descendant 
of any one here today will rejoice in 
the fact that you opposed the expan- 
sion of the public school system. 

The movements for good schools 
and good roads should go hand in 
hand. Good roads are taken as a sign 
of the highest civilization. The old 
Romans were ahead of us in providing 
them. They built magnificent thor- 
oughfares more than 2,000 years ago 
which still stand as a monument to 
their greatness. After wading in the 
mud for a century and a third isn't it 
time that our people provided them- 
selves with solid, modernly construct- 
ed highways.' It is only eleven years 
since the rural delivery system was 
inaugurated in Washington county. 
In that time we have witnessed a 
great awakening of civic pride and 
the development of a sentiment for 
better roads. Nine years ago the Na- 
tional Department of Agriculture made 
an experiment in the building of good 
roads in this county. One section was 
built of macadam and one of brick. 
This work was intended as an object 
lesson for our people and it has prov- 
ed to be one of great value. After 
experiment and trial the people seem 
to have come to the conclusion that 
the most durable road is that built of 
brick. Our mileage of public thor- 
oughfares is so large that the co-op- 
eration of state, county and township 
must be complete and harmonious if 
this generation is to see an adequate 
system of good roads constructed. The 
state and the county authorities 
should build as rapidly as they can. 
Each township should likewise build 
its portion of ])ublic highway. Several 
townships of Washington county have 
already built sections of brick roads. 
Others are arranging to do so. 1 hope 
that East Finley and its neighboring 
townships may soon adopt this policy 
and each year build a section, no mat- 
ter how small it be. of permanent road. 
A start must be made somewhere and 
no petty local jealousy should prevent 
the inauguration of the work, even if 



the geographical location of the road 
to be improved is such that many of 
the taxpayers never have occasion to 
use it. The inauguration and prosecu- 
tion of a good roads program will 
send abroad the fame of any town- 
ship which adopts it, will make pros- 
pective purchasers anxious to secure 
farms within its limits and enhance 
the value of property. 

As good citizens we can promote 
those things which contribute to the 
happiness and well being of our fellow 
man and advance the Kingdom of 
Righteousness. The Creator dealt 
with this region with a bountiful hand. 
It is blessed as no other portion of 
God's footstool has been. His gifts 
have been lavish — a soil of exceeding 
fertility, fine timber, natural gas, oil 
and splendid coal. The proper use of 
these gifts is incumbent upon us. "We 
may keep in mind Andrew Carnegie's 
saying that "It is a disgrace to die 
rich." The poor miser found in an 
Allegheny hovel last week after hoard- 
in.u: money for a lifetime, is no more to 
be pitied or despised than the man in 
any walk of life who accumulates a 
large amount of money under our 
beneficient laws and without recogniz- 
ing his moral obligation to the com- 
munity, sneaks off and dies like a dog 
without giving one dollar for benevo- 
lence, charity or civic betterment. Not 
many years ago I knew a peculiar old 
man who lived in the eastern part of 
this county, near the Monongahela riv- 
er. The rich Pittsburg coal vein un- 
derlaid his farm. Through vanity and 
on account of a quarrel with relatives 
he let the contract lor a monument as 
high as an oil derrick. Dying before 
its completion he provided by will 
that his executors should finish it and 
use the rest of his estate in building 
a wall around his cemetery lot with a 
pillar at each corner as high as the 
money he left would pay for. So to- 
day in a Quaker burying ground on 
the old National road, towering 80 
feet above the hilltop, can be seen for 
miles around, the memorial, costing 
$40,000. by which a foolish old man 
vainly strove to perpetuate his name. 

While this sinful folly was being 
consummated, away at the other end 
of the county, within a mile of the 
West Virginia line, died Jerome 



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Plummer, another farmer. God had 
blessed him with an abundance of this 
world's goods and after providing for 
those naturally dependent upon him, 
he left $33,000 as a fund to be invest- 
ed under direction of the court and 
the income to be used throughout all 
coming time to teach temperance and 
fight the blighting liquor traffic. 
Thus was built an imperishable mon- 
ument which will stand when time has 
obliterated the last vestige of that 
massive pillar of granite which 
marks the final resting place of one 
who did not appreciate his duty as a 
child of God and a brother of all man- 
kind. 

While most of us can not afford to 
do much in a material way to make 
the world brighter and better, yet 
every one can uo something, if it is 
only to plant a shade tree or erect a 
watering trough along the highway. 
To make the surroundings of the trav- 
eler through life more comfortable and 
his sojourn here more happy are du- 
ties which all should find it pleasant 
to perform. Individual public spirit 
can be shown by giving such a grove 
as this for a township park or by fix- 
ing up and providing for the perpetual 
care of old graveyards. In this re- 
spect we are also far behind the New 
England towns. There all incorpor- 
ated districts whether in country or 
city are known as towns. A gentle- 
man who spent several weeks this 
summer in Massachusetts told me the 
other day that he found that many be- 
quests had been made to the town 
which he visited. No less than $389,- 
000 had been given to that town by 
bequest or otherwise, most of it to 
be held in trust, either for the poor, 
the sick, the unfortunate; or for edu- 
cation, for parks, for playgrounds, or 
for some noble form of charity or 
civic improvement. How much money 
has East Finley township invested to 
carry on such splendid works? One 
thousand dollars will earn $50 per 
year if invested at five per cent. That 
amount properly used would relieve 
many a human heartache and care 
for many a weary and afflicted one 
during every year of the future until 
the last syllable of recorded time. 

The wilderness which our forefath- 
ers subdued and made to blossom as 



the rose was their bequest of love to 
us. This section is destined to wit- 
ness a wonderful transformation dur- 
ing the next few years. Our vast ma- 
terial resources are to be developed. 
Though the coal industry of Washing- 
ton county is in its infancy 83 mines 
employing over 10,000 persons are al- 
ready in operation. The county now 
has within its borders people from 
nearly every country of Europe and 
Asia and almost every language of 
those continents is here spoken. With 
the growth of our industries and coal 
development the tide of population 
will continue to flow in upon us with 
ever increasing force. Shall it over- 
whelm us? We must make a gallant 
fight if we would maintain the high 
quality of citizenship that has charac- 
terized the inhabitants of this region 
since our forefathers, one hundred 
and thirty or more years ago, "lighted 
on these hills the beacon fires of a 
pioneer civilization and planted nere 
the standard of tlie cross." 

Once I asked a man in a Spanish- 
American city what its population 
was. He answered, "1,000 responsible 
citizens and 19,000 irresponsible." That 
is 95 per cent of its inhabitants cared 
nothing for religion, owned no proper- 
ty and felt no obligation to be good 
citizens. It is no wonder they have 
unstable government in such places 
and are haunted constantly by the 
spectre of revolution. In that town, 
which is about the size of Washington, 
it takes 450 policemen to preserve or- 
der and protect people in their rights. 
It is not the number but the character 
of a people which makes a nation or 
a community great. The more re- 
sponsiDle citizens you have in a com- 
munity, the more people who anchor 
to the earth and own their own homes, 
the more people who are honest, indus- 
trious, sober and frugal, the more peo- 
ple who love God and keep his com- 
mandments, the greater force that 
community is for good in the world. 

We must welcome the poor foreign- 
er who comes from lands of oppres- 
sion, as many of the pioneers did, to 
make a new home under the stars and 
stripes. He must be taught what 
constitutes good citizenship and help- 
ed to a knowledge of his rights and 
duties under our laws, 'lae beer 



—5— 



agent should not be the first to greet 
him and give him the glad hand. We 
should not call these poor people 
Dagoes or Hunkies or Sheenies. 
Through schools for adult foreigners 
they should have a chance to learn 
the English language and be instruct- 
ed how to protect themselves from the 
horde of sharpers and greedy officials 
who prey upon their ignorance. Most 
of these people are of sturdy races 
and they prove their enterprise by 
crossing the ocean to set up family 
altars anew in the land of which they 
have heard so much. They will not 
be drones in the hive. They can 
teach us economy and frugality now. 
They are grateful for kindness. Most 
of them will make good American cit- 
izens. Their children and grand- 
children will take an important part 
in the up-building of this Nation. With- 
in a few generations they will doubt- 
less be blended into the race of future 
Americans which under God will lead 
the world to yet greater and nobler 
things. 

And so as we gather in this beauti- 
ful grove upon this peaceful summer 
day let us highly resolve that as citi- 
zens of the great Republic and child- 
ren of a just, wise and loving God that 
we will try to so perform our duties 
hereafter and so use His gifts as to 
aavance His kingdom. May we un- 
derstand that in this country the bal- 
lot is the safe-guard of our liberties, 
that no man should be bound by the 
tyranny of a party name, that the in- 
dependent voter is the hope of the na- 
tion, that every voter should carry his 
conscience into the election booth 
with him and that he is responsible 
only to his conscience and his God for 
the way he marks his ballot and not 
to any political party. 

With good schools, permanent 
roads, telephones, mail delivery, motor 
vehicles and the introduction of the 



wonderful devices for public utilities 
and personal and family comfort, we 
can make country life so desirable as 
to counteract the trend from the 
farms caused by the lure of the city. 
"God made the country, man made the 
town." No man can live among these 
hills without breathing the breath of 
liberty and nourishing the love of 
country. Here within the limits of 
old Finley township three-quarters of 
a century ago far-seeing and patriotic 
men met at the house of Kenneth Mc- 
Coy and resolved that human slavery 
must go, and their constant agitation 
and work brought glorious fruitage. 
Shall we not resolve that ere another 
generation passes that accursed twin 
relic of barbarism, the legalized liq- 
uor traific, shall be crushed by the 
power of the ballot? 

When Finley township was erected 
121 years ago it numbered among its 
citizens Duncan McArthur, son of a 
poor Scotchman as his name might tell. 
Removing to Ohio when a young man 
he became governor of the Buckeye 
state. His career illustrates the pos- 
sibilities of American citizenship. 
Who will be president of the United 
States forty years hence? Possibly 
some diligent boy, eager to learn, who 
is bending now over his booKs in an 
East Finley school. And so I say 
that your greatest product is men. 

\Vhile I hope that the people of this 
neighborhood may continue to be 
blessed with abundant harvests, that 
vine and tree may yield fruit in plen- 
ty, that the mines soon to be opened 
here may produce thousands of tons 
of the best coal to do the work of the 
world and that its sale and mining 
may bring material prosperity to all, 
yet I also wish that old Finley may 
achieve more lasting fame through the 
multitude of good men and good 
women who make their hoToes among 
these beautiful hills. 



3U77-251 
Lot-3ti 



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IBRARV OF CONGRESS 



014 209 774 6 



